More than $1.3 million received in gifts

December 10, 1998

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- More than $1,360,000 in cash and non-cash
gifts was received in October and November by the Western Michigan
University Foundation, according to a report presented to the
WMU Board of Trustees at its Dec. 11 meeting in Grand Rapids.

The WMU Foundation, which was established in 1976, receives
gifts for a variety of University departments, programs and activities.

It reported receiving cash and non-cash gifts of $964,758 in
October and $404,460 in November for a total of $1,369,218. This
puts the total gifts received by the foundation at $3,732,260
since the 1998-99 fiscal year began July 1. The amount is $1,255,331
more than the total gifts received last year at this time.

Among the major gifts received was $619,703 of a planned $1.5
million anonymous donation to create the Bernardine M. Lacey Nursing
Chair in WMU's College of Health and Human Services. The previously
announced gift establishes a permanent endowed chair in the School
of Nursing that is named in honor of Lacey, the school's founding
director.

Also reported were a $20,000 anonymous donation for WMU's gift
annuity program and two $10,000 donations in support of health
care-related scholarships.

The estate of Alma S. Boughey gave $10,000 to establish the
Alma S. Boughey Occupational Therapy Scholarship. Proceeds from
the permanent endowment fund will go toward scholarships for full-time
undergraduate students in the nationally recognized Department
of Occupational Therapy. The scholarships will be awarded primarily
based upon financial need.

Boughey of Marble Falls, Texas, died earlier this year. She
received a bachelor of science degree with a concentration in
occupational therapy from WMU in 1953. Her distinguished health
care career included service as chief of occupational therapy
for a veterans affairs hospital.

The other $10,000 gift was donated by Mary Ruth White to establish
the Helen Elizabeth Gibbens Endowed Scholarship for the Physician
Assistant Program. Scholarships generated from this endowment
will support full-time students in WMU's highly regarded Department
of Physician Assistant. They will be awarded primarily based on
financial need.

White of Buchanan, Mich., made the donation in honor of her
sister, Helen Gibbens, who died this year. Gibbens, an assistant
professor emeritus, worked as a nurse and a nursing supervisor
in WMU's health service for 35 years. She joined the University
in 1946 after serving as an Army lieutenant and nurse in World
War II.

Trustees also heard a report from the Paper Technology Foundation
at WMU. The foundation received cash and non-cash gifts during
October and November amounting to $52,576. This put the total
gifts to the foundation thus far this fiscal year at $163,005.

The Paper Technology Foundation, established in 1958, is in
the last two years of a $5.75 million capital campaign. The campaign
began in July 1995 and will conclude in June 2000. So far, it
has garnered more than $4 million in gifts and pledges.

The foundation supports and enhances the internationally known
paper programs offered by WMU's Department of Paper and Printing
Science and Engineering. It also helps recruit and financially
assist young men and women who wish to pursue careers in the pulp
and paper industry.